Kansas City police charge man in highway shootings

Apr. 18, 2014
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A car is removed by Kansas City police from the house, far right, of a Grandview, Mo., man suspected in a series of shootings that have occurred on area roadways since early March, according to Police Chief Darryl Forte. / Allison Long, AP

by Greg Toppo, USATODAY

by Greg Toppo, USATODAY

Police in Kansas City have charged a man in a handful of random highway shootings that wounded three people.

Authorities said Friday that Mohammed Whitaker, 27, was charged with 18 felony counts in connection with the shootings and was being held on a $1 million bond. Police believe he acted alone and say the investigation is ongoing.

Jackson County prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said Whitaker is charged with two counts of shooting into a motor vehicle and injuring a person, seven counts of shooting into a motor vehicle and nine counts of armed criminal action. None of the victims' wounds were considered life-threatening, but Peters Baker called the shootings "horrible acts."

The last confirmed shooting believed to be connected to the case was reported April 6.

Peters Baker said Whitaker's alleged victims were from throughout the Kansas City metro area, which straddles Missouri and Kansas. "This has impacted all of us, each side of the state line, each side of the river." She said more charges could be added, and she credited "good, solid police work" from several agencies for apprehending Whitaker.

The Kansas City Star on Friday reported that Whitaker was arrested Thursday night after police raided a Grandview, Mo., residence. They also towed away a green Dodge Neon with Illinois license plates. The plates were registered to the suspect's father, who told The Star he was shocked by the arrest. "I thought everything was OK with him," the unidentified man said. "I just thought he was working and trying to pay off his college bills."

"To my knowledge, he's never fired a gun," the father said. "I'm totally shocked by all this."

Whitaker worked in sales at a medical supply company in Overland Park, Kan., his father told The Star. The suspect had dropped out of a technical college, where he was studying biomedical equipment repair. A spokesman with OptumRx, the division of UnitedHealth Group that fills prescriptions, said Whitaker was on administrative leave from his job.